Friday, June 20, 2014

Global Warming is the
unequivocal and continuing rise in the earth’s average temperature (IPCC,
2013). It is one of the most important issues that people around the world have
been concerned about. According to NASA, the earth’s average temperature has almost
doubled in the last 5 decades. There are many factors contributing to Global
Warming and they can be classified into two groups namely natural events and
human activities. This essay aims to demonstrate the two main causes, the
effects and lastly the solutions to climate change.

EAP6- SP 18:00-19:30Dated
16-06-2014

4rd draft of Climate Change “Natural Causes and
Greenhouse Effect”

Climate change is now a vital issue all over the worldbecause this global problem effect on human life in the
future. That is why it is becoming an interesting topic among scientists.
Climate change is the long-term of weather conditions which relate to changing
in temperature, precipitation, winds, and other factors. (Causes of climate
change, 2013). Several causes of climate change were defined as natural causes and
human activities which are the two main root causes of climate change.

What is Greenhouse Effect?

First
of all, to comprehend about the main causes of climate change clearly, it is
helpful to understand one element that should explained when talking about
climate change “The greenhouse effect”. A greenhouse effect is the natural
process of the sun, the atmosphere and the earth that operate together in the
same approach as the greenhouse. Sun produces energy to the glass in term of
rays of light that the plants, soil, and other substances in the greenhouse are
wrapped up this energy from the sun. And the majority of this absorbed energy
is transformed to heat that make the greenhouse get warm by catching this heat.
What is more, the radiation of the sun warms the earth while the heat is not
able to fully escape the atmosphere, it is the reason the Earth keeps getting
hotter. According to report of Marc Lallanilla, water vapor and clouds, which
are greenhouse gases, produce about 80-90 % of the earth’s natural greenhouse
effect, but carbon dioxide, methane, and some of minor gases are also a part of
greenhouse gases. Obviously, greenhouse effect is divided into two factors.
(Lallanilla, 2013). There is natural greenhouse effect that keeps the earth’s
climate warm and habitable. Additionally, there is also man-made greenhouse effect,
which comes from extra greenhouse gases by cutting down trees, releasing
dangerous chemical substances from factories, vehicles and burning fossil fuels
such as gasoline, coal, oil and natural gases into the atmosphere, which seem
to be warming the earth more and more. For instance, approximately 30 percent
of the radiation striking earth's atmosphere is immediately reflected back out
to space by clouds, ice, snow, sand and other reflective surfaces. In contrast,
70 percent of incoming solar radiation from the sun is connected with the oceans,
land and atmosphere. As the radiation of the sun heat up, the heat of the
oceans, land and atmosphere spread to the Earth’s atmosphere. Additionally, a
similar greenhouse effect (phenomenon) happened in a car parked outside during
a sunny day. Inside the car is warmed by solar radiation. Thus, the outgoing
thermal radiation is blocked and trapped inside the car's closed windows. These
two pictures below explain how greenhouse effect works.

Climate
change is a change in global or regional patterns. Human activities and nature
are the two main causes of climate change. There are two types of natural
factors: internal and external causes.

Internal Natural Causes:

Volcanic
eruption is one of the most dangerous natural disasters which can cost
thousands of lives in a blink of an eye. Directly, the eruptions of volcanoes
increase the temperature in that region. Indirectly, according to Exploring the
Environment, “An erupting volcano can eject vast amounts of ashes and gases
into the atmosphere” (Exploring the Environment, unknown). Most of the erupted
gases are water vapor and there is also a small amount of carbon dioxide which
only causes a small impact on global climate. However, the release of Sulfur
Dioxide (SO2) goes up to the stratosphere and floats around the planet and
combines with abundant water then turns into sulfuric acid (H2SO4) droplets
called aerosols. It impacts the climate because after a few years sulfuric acid
enters the lower atmosphere absorbs and traps heat especiallytrapping the heat
from the sun. For instance, thousands of years ago, the heat from sun splash to
the planet and almost one hundred percent is reflected back. Nevertheless,
nowadays because the amount of aerosols in the atmosphere is still increasing,
a lot of heat could not get out and the planet is getting warmer.

Another
internal natural cause is continental drift. Continents have been moving for
millions of years already and it is still happening. The movement changes
position of water bodies and physical features. For example, when cycles
related to long term changes in the earth’s orbit combine to produce colder
weather in this hemisphere, summer temperatures are not sufficient to melt the
snow from the previous winter. As more snow accumulates, it reflectsto sunlight
in huge amount, this causes further cooling and the rapid onset of an ice age.

One
other factor where the Earth itself can shift its own climate is when its axis
is tilting. This factor is normally called obliquity or Natural tilt. According
to MilutinMilankovitch, a 19th century astronomer, the Earth’s axis
is currently tilting at a fixed angle of 23.5o. This tilt creates
what is called seasons like autumn, spring, summer and winter. In fact, if it
was not for the tilting of the Earth’s axis, human and other living organisms
on Earth would have only encountered one season in their lifetime. There would
be the same season all year in every year. On the other hand,Milankovitch’s
studies also showed that around every 100,000 years, the axis tilts back and
forth between 22.1o and 24.5o. This event carries on for
40,000 years. When the tilt decreases, Earth will have colder summer and colder
winter. While if the tilt increases, it will be the other way around. This
phenomenon have been known to have caused ice ages in the past. In spite of the
fact that the natural tilt of the Earth’s axis currently does not occur, it is
also considered a factor that determines the shift in the Earth climate. (Przyborski).

External Natural
Causes:

Aside
from all the internal causes, there is one factor which occurs externally which
can shift the earth’s climate as well. Without a doubt, sunlight or sun
radiation is the major source responsible for sustaining all living organisms
on Earth. However, there is an event called the 11-year sunspot cycle. To
further understand about the 11-year sunspot cycle, it is helpful to understand
what sunspot actually means. Sunspot is basically a patch or hole which shoots
out the sun’s magnetic field or solar flares. In those 11 years, the sunspots
steadily rise to the point where it is called the solar maximum and decrease
back down again to what is called solar minimum. When the sunspots cycle
reaches solar maximum, the sun gets brighter due to the brightness of its
magnetic fields and solar flares coming out of the sunspots. Therefore, the
Earth gets warmer. The temperature will rise 0.2o Celsius. (Riebeek,
2010).

Burning
of fossil fuels contributes to a high carbon dioxide emission, which cause
global warming. There are three types of fossil fuels: coal, petroleum and
natural gases.

Coals
have been being used as the largest resource of fossil fuels for generating the
electricity, heat, and industrial purposes. Due to the high content of carbon
dioxide in coal, it emits a high percentage of carbon dioxide into the
atmosphere, more than other fossil fuel, when it comes into combustion
(Biologicaldiversity.org, 2014). By 2012, 41 per cent of global electricity was
generated by coal-fired power plants and it accounted for 39 percent of U.S
electricity, which was around 83 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the
United States (Worldcoal.org, 2014).

Petroleum,
which emits about three-fourths of carbon dioxide from the combustion of coals,
is the second largest source of carbon dioxide production
(Biologicaldiversity.org, 2014). It plays a vital role as the energy sources
for global transportation because billion of cars, trucks and motorcycles burn
petroleum to operate, and it simultaneously releases atmospheric carbon
dioxide, which increases the Earth’s temperature. In 2009, 32.8 per cent of
global energy was generated by burning of petroleum and globally emitted 36.7
per cent of carbon dioxide (C2es.org, 2014).

Natural
gases contribute to the emission of greenhouse gas and they release only half
amount of carbon dioxide compared to the burning of the coal
(Biologicaldiversity.org, 2014). Because of the lower carbon content in natural
gases and the higher efficiency, which gas can be generated into electricity,
shifting from coal to gas in electricity conversion will reduce the greenhouse gases
emissions by 50 per cent (D.Lason, 2013).

Deforestation
is a well-known factor that contributes to greenhouse gases, which causes
climate change. The causes of deforestation are all from human activities.
There are three main reasons such as urbanization, subsistence farming and
commercial agriculture (Rita, 2011). Firstly, the modern lifestyle leads to
urbanization. As the daily needs always go up continuously, the standard of
living is always changing according to the development of society, so people
need to move to the place where they can find a job in order to make sure they
can have an adequate salary for living. As the result, the cities need land to
build more buildings, more accommodations and more amusement parks.
Consequently, forests need to be cut down for these facilities.

Secondly,
the farmers practice subsistence farming. Farmers have a traditional method of
changing land to plant crops, so forests are still cut down. Lastly, commercial
agriculture leads to the devastation of forests. When small agricultures turn
into a large agribusiness, investors need space to invest and also to farm on
it. That is why forests need to be cut down due to the needs. Turning to the
effects of deforestation, trees play an important role in absorbing carbon
dioxide from the atmosphere and releasing oxygen back in reverse. In spite of
being harmful to humans, carbon dioxide is really important for photosynthesis
as it is used to produce carbohydrates, fats, and proteins and so on to make up
the trees. If people keep removing trees from the earth’s crust, the polluted
air such as carbon dioxide, the toxin in the atmosphere will be spread
everywhere (What are Some Human Activities that Contribute to the Worsening
Effect of Global Warming?,n.d). Finally, the thickening amount of air pollution
increases the earth’s temperature as it reduces the net long wave of radiation
from the sun (Gavin, 2007).

Some
other gases, which are produced by human activities, play a vital role in
contributing to global warming.

Methane
is another major source that contributes to the climate change. It accounts for
20% of the greenhouse gases and its lifetime is about a dozen years in the
atmosphere. In spite of the methane’s concentration is lower than carbon
dioxide (CO2), it traps the heat 21 times greater than carbon dioxide (CO2),
(BBC, 2009). This gas comes from 2 main sources: natural processes and human
activities (EPA, 2014). In natural processes, bacteria break down organic
bodies, which convert it into methane and are spread out to the atmosphere
(BBC, 2009). Furthermore, wetlands also cause the emission of methane too.
However, two thirds of the methane emissions are caused by human activities. In
industrial sectors, the burning of fossil fuel emits lots of different kinds of
gases and one of them is methane. Thus, the presence of methane in the air is
unavoidable. In agriculture, most of the animals produce methane through their
digestive processes. Last but not least, waste in the landfill also generates
methane, which causes global warming (EPA, 2014).

Nitrous
oxide (NO) is part of the greenhouse gases, which causes global warming. With
the small amount of it presents in the atmosphere, its effect should cause no
any significant change in the temperature. However, with this tiny amount
(about 0.1% only), its side effect does make changes to the temperature. It is
about 200-300 times stronger than CO2 (BBC, 2009). The most common sources of
NO are for the use of Nitrogen base fertilizers, burning of fossil fuel and
wood, and from the breakdown of nitrogen in the soil (EPA, 2014).

Besides
methane and nitrogen, which are also considered to be the main greenhouse
gases, others gases such as Hydrofluorocarbons(HFCs), Perfluorocarbons(PFCs),
Sulphur-hexafluoride(SF6), Water Vapour(H20) and Ozone(O3), are seen as the
sub-factors of global warming that are powerful and last for a long time. These
gases are daily emitted by human activities into the atmosphere. HFCs are used
in the refrigeration in all aspects that may lead to 20 000 times more potent
than CO2 and last for 260 years. This gas is used to replace the CFCs which
both caused global warming and ozone layer depletion with their powerfulness
and a long lifetime in the past. PFCs and SF6 are applied in semiconductor
manufacturers, and they are 10000 and 20000 times correspondingly more powerful
than CO2 as they can stay up to 50000 and 3200 years respectively. In addition,
Water vapour (H2O), which is emitted daily by human in domestic or industrial
activities such as kitchens or food industries, are tiny. It may not be a
serious greenhouse gas; however, it may make the greenhouse effect worse while
being held by warm air. Lastly, Ozone layers, which defend the lives from the
Ultra Violate ray, can also trap the surface heat while it is inflected from
the earth surface (Greenpeace International, 2006).

The increase
in the amount of Carbon dioxide does not only cause the rise in temperature but
also melted ice. The ice of both North and South poles has been melting which
cause the rise in ocean and sea levels (Davis, 2006). According to Davis, the
heat has been melting the ice in an extremely rapid rate. In fact, the water
temperature has also grown to become warmer (Davis, 2006). Consequently, some
parts of world’s continents have been flooded which influences heavily on human
and wildlife.Obviously, the warm temperature, resulted from inadequate ice,
might harm the lives of polar bears. When the oceans become warmer, the ice is
melted rapidly and the polar bears would have to face extinction (Davis, 2006).
Furthermore, melted ice and the rise of sea levels also have some impacts on
human’s lives. Based on the average rate, sea levels will have risen of 4.2mm
per year from 2000 to 2080, IPCC estimated.
It is a fact that there are approximately 240 million people around the world
who have migrated from their national borders and up to 20 million have been
displaced from their homes because of flooding(Werz, 2012).People have less clean water to drink and use for
their daily lives. Also, this issue makes the situations in their areas
dangerous and they have to leave the places to find other appropriate places to
live temporarily.

More than
this, high temperature is one of the main effects of climate imbalance. Time
after time, human keep producing greenhouse gases which trap more heat in the
earth’s atmosphere (Hamburg et al, 2006, 34-41). Studies illustrated that during
the last 30 years, the earth’s temperature has risen. According to Environment
Protection Agency, one record documented during a decade from 2000 to 2009
indicated that the temperature was the warmest of the period (Guide to Global
Climate Change, 2013). Scientists have noticed that higher temperature can
cause bad effects on human and nature. The heat waves can be dangerous for
people’s health. It causes illnesses such as heat cramps and heat stroke, or
even death. For example, in 2003 heat waves in Europe caused about 50,000
deaths, and in 1995 there were more than 600 deaths in Chicago (Guide to Global
Climate Change, 2013). Furthermore, while heat waves are likely to happen again
and again, it will also increase the temperature of air. In this case, it causes
wind velocity to become higher and increases water attitude in high latitudes.
The more heat presents in the atmosphere, the more water would evaporate. It is
an importantfactor which leads to heavy storms. For instance, some countries
thatdo not have any experiences with heavy storms are actually facing the
curious problemsof those environmental changes.

In addition,
the global warming would also give vastinfluences on both animals and plants.
According to researchers, global warming would be mainly about the increasing
of the earth’s temperature and Carbon dioxide rate in the earth’s atmosphere.
The huge rise of Carbon dioxide and Chlorofluorocarbons in the high atmosphere
will accumulate, and create the troposphere ozone which is a major contributor
to the greenhouse effect (Hamburg et al, 2006). It has also been stated that
some plants in the world would not be able to grow because the world is rapidly
getting warmer. The water will evaporate in the high temperature and the soil,
which is a keyfeature for crops to grow, will erode at the same time(Wight,
2014). Nowadays, some parts of the world have faced some serious problems which
are related to droughts. These are the reasons why some plants cannot adapt to
thetransformation of the water and the outside heat. The meteorologists have
indicated that the global warming impact was not only on certain types of
crops, but it also harms some animals because their lives depend on the natural
resources (Davis, 2006). As a consequence, this natural catastrophe would lead
to the extinction of animal in the world.

Lastly,
climate change can make a big impact on social lives. The rise of temperature
can cause many problems on public infrastructure and economy. For example, the
greenhouse gases have brought the earth to face the natural disasterlike floods,
storms, droughts, tsunamis or hurricanes, which can destroy people’s houses,
farms, infrastructures, and some fine buildings (Davis, 2006). Moreover,
according to a 2009 report made by the International Organization for Migration
produced in cooperation with the United Nations University and the Climate
Change, Environment and Migration Alliance, climate migrants will have
increased from 200 million to 1 billion by the year 2050. It has been stated
that, “environmental drivers of migration are often coupled with economic,
social and developmental factors that can accelerate to a certain extent mask
impact of climate change” (Werz, 2012).
It is also an essential economic issue when the way of living has changed in
order to adapt to the new environment, plus the cost of prevention and
improvement after the natural disaster is accordingly high to handle.

Although
there are many causes and effects of global warming, there are some solutions.

To
begin with, recycling disposable old things is a main solution to improper
waste of used materials, which is one of the main causes of global warming. For
example, plastic wastes, which cost the most damage of all the wasted
materials, consist polyethylene that releases CO2 when it is heated
(Project Green bag, Internet) Since plastic bags are reusable, they should be
reused in order to cut down the large amount of waste that being produced
everyday.

Dealing
with the population growth is also a key solution to prevent climate change.
Because the population is increasing, the non-stop demands of humans also
become a crucial problem. There are 3 key solutions to this complicated issue.
One of the solutions is that governments of countries with large population on
the world should set a “One child policy” in their countries. This policy will
help the world’s population growth increase gradually, but not significantly.
For instance, China, which runs one child policy in their country, successfully
dropped its population growth from 0.73% to only 0.49% in 2012 (The Statistic
Portal, Internet). It is predicted that this decreased amount will help China
achieve its 2020 commitment to cut down pollution.

Moreover,
environment study should be included in the education system because only
education can change people’s behaviors. In addition, providing workshops that
focus on the problems of global warming can also help people learn and be aware
of these issues.

Almost
every human being knows about the greenhouse effects. However, there are only a
few people who bother to care about the earth and bring their knowledge into
action. There are plenty of actions to express our knowledge and bring them to
life. In order to spread the knowledge extensively to the world, we should write
down all of the important ideas and make books about what we know and publish
them. Furthermore, people should be encouraged to compose songs about climate
change problems and insert some messages to let people know that this world is
the only place to live and there is no second world (Inconvenient Truth, 2006).
People can speak up in their community and create short educating videos about
climate problems so the viewers will be able to understand the meaning more
easily (Inconvenient Truth, 2006).

Reducing
dangerous gases is one helpful solution to climate change. There are some gases
that have a lot of bad impacts on the earth such as Carbon Dioxide, Methane
(natural gas), Nitrous oxide, Chlorofluorocarbons, Tropospheric Ozone,
Stratospheric Ozone, et cetera (Reading & Writing source book, 2009).
Unsurprisingly, most of these above gases are caused by human activities. There
are several strategies to reduce these green house gases. One possible point is
that we humans should try to shorten working hours of each big industry, which
causes polluted air every day, since it is impossible to shut down those
factories that correspond to human needs. Another idea is to reduce our use of
electricitybecause electricity generation produces the large amount of CO2
(Reading and Writing, 2009).

The
horrendous effects of gasoline-used transportation towards global warming can
be averted by four supporting solutions. Since the past decades, useful
techniques have been given to prevent transportation’s impact on the environment.
Firstly, people should try to avoid utilize vehicles that require a lot of
fossil fuels and turn to use alternative fuels instead (Transportation and
Global Warming, N.D). Secondly, the idea of traveling with many people in one
vehicle such as using public transportation and sharing car seats with other
people can also help save our environment. Furthermore, keeping automobiles on
check and up-to-date can also help prevent climate change as well as save money
(Transportation and Its Impact on Global Warming, 2009). Finally, riding a bike
or walking does not only help prevent global warming, but also provides good
exercises and cuts down traffic congestion.

Almost
everything everyone uses every day requires the use of chemical substances that
cause climate change. However, if everyone could shift away from using the
chemical substances and turn to use renewable energies, that would be the
resolution to the global warming issues and the earth world be a better place.
There are many kinds of renewable sources such as wind, sun, hydropower,
biomass energy, hydrogen, geothermal energy and ocean energy. These energies
are very beneficial at making the earth healthier, providing heat and light,
producing electricity, providing fuels for transportation, powering energy, et
cetera (Top Seven Renewable Energy Sources).

Reforestation
helps improve the quality of the environment as well as of human life (Lovekar,
2013). As trees help reduce pollution and mitigate global warming, many East
Asian countries have successfully managed to reverse deforestation. For
instance, China has shown a tremendous change in converting land areas to
forest cover in the last decade. As a special initiative for reforestation,
China has also declared a “Natural Tree Planting Day” in the country. Moreover,
some of developed countries are very proactive, such as Germany, Canada and the
United States, which also have taken an initiative and are in the process of
increasing their forest areas through reforestation.

To
sum up, there are 7 suggested solutions to the climate change issue, namely
recycling the usable materials, limiting population, reducing dangerous gases,
putting knowledge into action, using public transportation and renewable
sources, and reforestation. People all over the world should take the
above-suggested solutions into consideration since the world is turning worse
from time to time.

From the above explanation, it can
be concluded that the natural events and the human activities are responsible
for the rise of sea level, natural disasters and health problems which demand
effective solutions such as recycling reusable materials, reducing gases,
sharing transportation, using renewable sources and reforestation. So we humans
should take the global warming issue into consideration and bring all the
solutions above into actions.

Global
warming is an increase in the Earth’s atmospheric and oceanic temperatures due
to the increase of greenhouse gases resulting from pollution. In the last three
decades, the temperature made a dramatic change and now global warming is
becoming more and more serious because of various factors. The average world
temperature is increasing gradually every year but many people still do not
realize how serious the problem will be in the future. This essay will examine
the causes, then the effects and the possible solutions for global warming.

EAP 6 Tue/Thu 17:30-20:00

Greenhouse Effect and
Natural Causes of Global Warming

According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the
United States, the average temperature around the world has increased by 0.8
degree Celsius since 1880. Recently, the global temperature has risen to the
highest levels ever recorded (“Global Climate Change”). It is widely known that
global warming is caused by the greenhouseeffect, but some natural causes such
as solar variability and volcanic eruption also contribute to global warming.
This essay will examine the solar radiation and the process of the greenhouse
effect last but not least, the natural causes of global warming.

Before understanding the phenomenon of the greenhouse effect, one must
know about solar radiation at the Earth’s surface. The sun gives off large
amounts of energy into space, across a wide spectrum of wavelengths. There are
two main parts of spectrum in solar energy: visible and near-visible spectrum.
The wavelengths of visible light areapproximately 400 and 700 nanometers. It
represents 43% of the total radiant energy emitted. The wavelengthsof
near-visible light can be shorter or longer than those of visible light.
Near-visible light whose wavelengths are shorter than the visible comprises7%
to 8% in total. Short-wavelength near-visible light is very energetic because
of their high energy per photon. For instance, theultraviolet light, in the
range of 10 to 400 nanometers, can break apart stable biological molecules and
cause sunburn and skin cancer. The remaining 49% to 50% of the total sun energy
is the near-visible light with longer wavelengths than 700 nanometers. They are
infrared radiation, micro-waves, and radio waves. However, these kinds of light
cannot reach the Earth’s surface. They are absorbed by the atmosphere. The
Earth’s atmosphere is mostly transparent to visible light (“The Greenhouse
Effect”).

The greenhouse effect is a natural phenomenon in which the atmosphere
traps the sun’s energy. The sun gives off radiation.As shown in the graph
below, about 30% of the incoming solar radiation is reflected directly back
into space and 19% is absorbed by the atmosphere and clouds. The rest of incoming
radiation, mostly visible radiation, is absorbed by land, oceans, and
vegetation at the surface, where it is radiated into heat.Unfortunately, the
heat cannot freely leave the Earth because particular gases in the atmospherewhich
works are similar to the glass of a greenhouse that prevents the heat from
escaping. Water vapor is a natural gas that is the largest contributor to the
greenhouse effect. Without this natural greenhouse effect, the Earth would be
about 33 degrees Celsius cooler than it is now. This can freeze the Earth with
the average temperature of -18 degrees Celsius. Nonetheless, the Earth is not
becoming colder justbecause of the increasing of greenhouse gas concentrations.
Some gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrogen oxide are released by
human activities. Eventhough these gases are slightlyinsignificant compared to
the other gases such as O2 and N2, they still play a very considerable
role in the greenhouse effect (“The Greenhouse Effect”). This leads to global
warming.

(“The Greenhouse
Effect”)

Natural phenomenon such as solar variability also leads to global
warming. The sun goes through a11-year cycleand other possiblesolar cycles
which range up to few centuries longer. These cycles are from storminess, a
violent activity on the sun’s surface, to quietness.

According to
Thomas Woods, “The fluctuation in the solar cycles impacts the Earth’s global
temperature by about 0.1 degree Celsius, slightly hotter during solar maximum
and cooler during solar minimum” (Gran, 2008). Using a space-based tool called
Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment, scientists found that about 1.361 watts
per square meter of solar energy reaches the Earth during the sun’s quietest
period. The solar energy that reaches the Earth increases by 1.3 watts per
square meter when the sun is activateThis solar cycle increases the Earth’s
average temperature by 0.5 degree Celsius over the past centuries. This amount
is equal to 25% of the increased temperature (Gran, 2008). It can be seen that
solar variability impacts global warming.

Volcanic eruption also impacts global warming. The eruption influences
the ozone layer andthe greenhouse effectin various ways. Eruption from the
volcano causes a massive reduction of ozone at high latitudes from15% to 20% and
over 50% reduction at the Antarctic from the satellite data. During the
eruption, volcano also generates chemical reactions particles or aerosols which
interact with human-made CFCs, but these particles have an effect for only two
or three years. Another negative consequence of the volcanic eruption is that
it adds carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Furthermore, volcano eruption
enhances the “haze effect”. This effect is the event when particles, such as
dusts, smokes, and ashes, accumulate together and block out the sunlight. This
decreases the solar radiation, reduces the temperature and cools down the
Earth. For example, the Iceland Laki eruption in 1783 created the lowest-ever
temperature. The cold condition resulted from dust, gases, ashes, which was caused
by eruption. Clearly, volcano eruption ruins the pattern of climate and causes
global warming.

To sum up, the major cause of global warming is the greenhouse effect. The
greenhouse is related closely to solar energy which is concentrated in two
parts of the spectrum: visible and near-visible light. Only visible radiation
is absorbed by the Earth’s surface and near-visible radiation can be absorbed
by the atmosphere or reflected back to space. After the sun’s energy is
absorbed by the Earth’s surface, it is converted into heat that cannot escape
from the Earth’s atmosphere because of the greenhouse gases. This phenomenon
causes climate change. Beside the greenhouse effect, solar energy and volcanic
eruption also impact global warming. It can be seen clearly that both human and
nature are putting the Earth in danger.

Climate change has become a
very famous news headline in the last few decades. It is believed that the
terms climate change or global warming are referred to increases in the average
temperature of the Earth’s surface. Many people believe that the main cause of
this problem is the greenhouse effect. According to Wikipedia, Greenhouse
effect is the process by which absorption and emission of infrared radiation by
gases in the Earth’s atmosphere warm its lower atmosphere and surface
(Wikipedia, 2014). Most importantly, the main contributor to the greenhouse
effect is the Carbon Dioxide. This Carbon Dioxide is the most common gas
emission produced by both nature and human. According to a non-profit
organization in Canada, people are emitting Carbon Dioxide through their daily
activities like deforestation, industry and burning fossil fuel
(whatsyourimpact, 2014). In addition, fuel is a type of hydro Carbon which is
one the most flammable chemical substances scientists have ever found. So it is
a wise choice to use fuel as a resource for burning and generating energy to
supply the demand of the nation. The biggest contributor to Carbon Dioxide is
burning fossil fuel, which has more than three quarters of the total of
greenhouse gases. According to an Irish report, the amount of Carbon Dioxide
has increased dramatically since the revolution of industry primarily due to
burning fossil fuels (Irish’s Report, 2005). Every country is developing and
new ideas are gathering to develop the old technologies and engineering that
had emitted a lot of Carbon Dioxide in the past. For instance, an oil business
at North Qatar which is known as one of the biggest oil exploration business in
the world has seen to have emitted a lot of bad smoke to the atmosphere even
though the new technologies and equipments have been used. According to
Whatsyourimpact organization, burning fossil fuel alone caused about 30 billion
tons of Carbon dioxide emission in 2011 (Whatsyourimpact, 2014).Therefore, burning fossil fuel is responsible
for 80% - 85% of the Carbon dioxide emission into the atmosphere (Slaght,
Harben, Pallant, 2009, p40)

Furthermore, most climatologists believe that deforestation is one of the main
contributors to the increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. ATree plays
an important role in the Carbon Dioxide cycle; first they draw in and store CO2
in their bodies and produce back O2 to the atmosphere. Although, the
common plants and crops are also ableto recycle CO2into O2they
are not capable of absorbing Carbon Dioxide and producing Oxygen as much as a
tree can. However, people are cutting down a massive amount of trees everyday
and not many of them realize how much had they destroyed one of the most
important resources of the planet. Hence, the more deforestation means more
declination of Oxygen and Oxygen is among the most fundamental building block
of every life on earth. Additionally, World Wild Life has reported, “Tropical
forests hold more than 210 trillion tons of carbon and deforestation give
around 15% of greenhouse gas emissions.”

For the same reason, most of the
electricity used to power homes or factories is usually generated by fossil
fuel combustion. Creating Electricity also contributes to a massive amountof
Carbon dioxide emissions. Accounting for approximately 38% of total U.S. Carbon
Dioxide emissions and 32% of total U.S greenhouse gas emissions in 2012,
generating electricity from combusting fossil fuel is the most common source of
Energy in the nation(Carbon Dioxide Emissions, 2014). Moreover, transportation
is one of the services that is extremely energy-consuming and also releases a
great deal of Carbon dioxide. For Instance, land vehicles, airplanes, sea
travel and trains. It is almost impossible to stop people from using all these
type of transportations. Adding to that, out of the most of Carbon dioxide
produced by vehicles in the U.S, 60% of the emissionsare from cars and trucks
(Cars and Trucks and Global Warming, 2014).

2

On the other hand, this also happen in our daily lives. When a bottle of water
is sealed for a long enough time, gases will be released creating air bubbles
that can be seen with naked eyes. Additionally, Carbon Dioxide is one among
these gases in the air bubbles. Similar thing also happens to the ocean, but
instead the cap of ocean is the atmosphere itself and the average pressure is
about 100 Kilo Pascal at the surface of the ocean, therefore the air or Carbon
dioxide will escape when the pressure is not strong enough to press it inside.

Last but not least, manufacturing cement is similar to burning coal. The
process requires heating limestone and Calcium oxide to a significantly high
temperature. When Carbon molecules inside the limestone are released, it will
react with Oxygen in the atmosphere. Consequently, it repeats the same process
as coal burning. Lastly,cementis used for every building construction along
with steel, and steel production is another industrial process that also
contributes to Carbon dioxide emissions. In order to produce steel, iron is
melted and refined to lower its Carbon content. Finally, the amountCO2 emitted
to the atmosphere is as twice as the amount of the iron input before
manufacturing (Whatsyourimpact, 2014).

In conclusion, Carbon Dioxide emissions mainly come from our
daily activities but also from those disasters such as volcano eruptions and
wildfire which also contribute a lot of Carbon Dioxide to the atmosphere. There
were many news headlines about the seriousness of global warming and recently
the cause of it broke the Antarctic glacier apart which increased the water
level of the ocean by 3 centimeters worldwide.

Ozone is one of the most important topics related to climate change.
Ozone exists in two layers in the Earth atmosphere which is in the troposphere
and the stratosphere. Stratospheric ozone has a small cooling effect while
tropospheric ozone contributes to global warming. Tropospheric ozone is formed
of 3 oxygen atoms. It can be formed in two ways. The first way is that the heat
of sunlight breaks oxygen atom apart from nitrogen oxide molecules apart, then
the free oxygen atom (O) react with the oxygen molecule (O2) in the atmosphere
and then the ozone molecule (O3) is formed. Another way that ozone is formed is
that nitrogen oxides react with volatile organic compounds (VOC) under the heat
of sunlight. Ergo, nitrogen oxides and VOC is the main
chemical components that produce tropospheric ozone. Human activities such as
using vehicles, industrial emissions, chemical solvents, and power plants
produce nitrogen and VOC (AOS, 2013). However, scientists are still not sure
how much human activities have contributes to the increase of the tropospheric
ozone because it is also produced naturally and it does not last long (IPCC,).
On the other hand, according to figure 1, the amount of tropospheric ozone has
increased substantially in the last decade. Without human activities, it would
be impossible for such an increase. Thus, this indicates that human activities
have a big impact on the increase of tropospheric ozone.

In addition, nitrogen is another important
component in the air that contributes to climate change.Nitrogen dioxide is one of the extremely
reactive gases which is also known as oxide of nitrogen or nitrogen oxide.It comes from many sources, such as the
emission from cars, trucks, motorbikes, industries, et cetera. However, human
activities are still the biggest contributor such as agriculture, burning
fossil fuels and deforestation.

The release of nitrogen from agriculture has
made a big change in the world temperature. By The Haber process (the reaction
of nitrogen gases and hydrogen gases), which is usually used in industrial
implementation, also it
allowed inert N2 gas to be made into ammonia without the use of slow
nitrogen-fixing bacteria (Lucy Sandbach, 2007). Then, the production of
ammonia is realized as a valuable method that could make cheap fertilizers. In
addition, Nitrous oxide is emitted when people start using the synthetic
fertilizers. According to the Inventory of U.S Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks,
agricultural soil management provided the largest emission of nitrogen in The
United States from 1990 to 2012 (Overview of Greenhouse Gases, 2014, internet).

(Overview of Greenhouse Gases, 2014,
internet)

Moreover, the excretion of smog from burning
fossil fuels, transportation, deforestation, industries and greenhouse gases
contain high level of nitrogen which are really harmful to the atmosphere.
Nitrogen is generally recognized as a kind of gas that catches the heat during
the process of releasing smoke from factories, cars, et cetera. The emission of
nitrogen is 300 times more effective than carbon dioxide, and it presents a
long term warming effect because it has more than 100 years residence time in
the atmosphere. The greater concentration of nitrogen emission makes the world
temperature becomes hotter.

Methane (CH4)
is another type of chemical gas which is the second most essential contribution
to the greenhouse gases after carbon dioxide emerging from human activities.
According to a New Global Warming Strategy, Methane is 21 times more powerful a
greenhouse gas than CO2. It is responsible for around one-fifth of
global warming from human activities (What’s Causing Climate Change, 2014,
Internet). The majority of methane emissions are from human activities which
are responsible for 64% of the total emissions (What are the Main Sources of
Methane Emissions, 2014, Internet). Mostly, it is produced by livestock
farming, rice cultivation, and the decayed material in landfills. In addition,
whenever people use coal, petroleum or natural gas, they have created the
methane emissions worldwide (What are the Main Sources of Methane Emissions,
2014, Internet). Furthermore, livestock farming also play an important part in
methane emission too (What are the Main Sources of Methane Emissions, 2014,
Internet).As the world population keeps
growing, the amount of food that is needed also increases. This leads to the
amount of livestock expansion. Livestock such as sheep, cows, buffaloes, goats
and other animals for food production creates a large amount of methane during
their digestion process (What are the Main Sources of Methane Emissions, 2014,
Internet). Another way of creating a methane emission with these livestock is
the animal’s manure. Whenever it is kept in tanks for later use, it will create
CH4 (Overview of Greenhouse Gases, 2014, Internet). Another cause of the
emission is from the dumping areas or landfills. Those are places where we
dispose of our trash. There are organic matters in our trash and as it decays,
it will produce CH4 and release into the atmosphere (What are the Main Sources
of Methane Emissions, 2014, Internet). Plus, another source of CH4 are biomass
burning and biofuels. Biomass is material from living or dead organic matter. For
example, as we burn those crop wastes for the agriculture use, it will produce
a lot of CH4 in the atmosphere. Biomass burning creates 38 million tons of
methane annually (What are the Main Sources of Methane Emissions, 2014,
Internet).However, Biofuels are biomass
which was burned to use for home, industrial and transportation purpose.

Figure1.Percentage of CH4 emissions from human.

While 64% of methane emissions are from human activities, another 36% is
from natural sources. The 3 main sources are wetlands, termites and oceans
(What are the Main Sources of Methane Emissions, 2014, Internet). One of the
sites stated that large amount of methane is stored in the Arctic. As the Earth
is getting warmer, the permafrost at the Arctic melts and the soil will
decompose and eventually release methane (Artic Methane Release and Global
Warming, 2014, Internet).

Moving on to Chlorofluorocarbons, also known as CFCs, is also another
major cause of the Global Warming. CFCs are
chemical compounds, which are made by man, containing chlorine, fluorine and
carbon. CFCs are not natural gases. CFCs were produced for the purpose of
refrigeration in 1930s. Later on, they were used in air conditioners and also
as solvents (Chlorofluorocarbons, 2014). As they are used in many
products, CFCs are released in the air which causes them to be trapped in the
atmosphere and there is no way to remove CFCs from the lowest part of the
atmosphere, which is called the troposphere. Then, they are moved up between
ten to fifty kilometers above the surface of the earth into the other part of
the atmosphere, called the stratosphere, where the radiation from the Sun
called ultraviolet (UV) breaks them into chlorine atoms. These chlorine atoms
are the significant cause of ozone depletion. However, due to the international
agreements in Montreal, Canada, 1987, the production of CFCs is being
extinguished because of the depletion of stratospheric ozone layer (Steve,
2009). But, it takes a long time for CFCs to be broken down by the
sunlight. Even though, there is only a small amount of CFCs in the atmosphere,
they are still able to enhance the greenhouse effect significantly. CFCs’
molecules are thousands of times stronger than carbon dioxide as greenhouse
gases. They are particularly good at trapping heat in the atmosphere.
Consequently, they will continue to contribute the enhancement of the natural
greenhouse effect in the twenty-first century (Chlorofluorocarbons, 2014).

Global warming alters humankind, animals and everything on the
earth. Some of the effects are the increase in average temperature, extreme
climate events, shift in climate patterns, snow and ice, rising sea levels,
ocean acidification, living things and social impact, et cetera (Lallanilla,
2013, Internet).

First of all, for the last two decades, one hundred and seven
million people have been affected by natural disasters every year. There are
two types of natural disasters that are influenced by global warming, which are
Hydrological and Meteorological. Floods, storm surges and coastal flooding are
all Hydrological events, while storms, cyclones, heat or cold waves, drought
and wildfires are Meteorological events. A study shows that by comparing two
periods of time, from 1980 to 1989 and from 2000 to 2009, the amount of
disasters has multiplied by three and there are about eighty percent of the
changes are caused by global warming (Steady Increase in Climate Related
Natural Disasters, 2013, Internet).

In addition, the most significant impacts of Global warming are
storms and hurricanes. First, Climate change may first decrease the number of
storms, but as the temperature keeps rising, the storms will become more
intensive. When the earth becomes warmer, the gap of the temperature between
poles and equator becomes smaller. The reason is the pole geographic, which is
cold and dry, is more vulnerable to the heat than the equator geographic, which
is already hot and humid. As the temperature is decreasing, the amount of
storms will also decline. However, according to NASA Goddard Institute for
Space Studies (GISS) and Columbia University research scientist named George
Tselioudis, the increasing of temperature will evaporate more water and force
the atmosphere to contain more water vapor, which makes the storms more
intensive. "If we are creating an atmosphere more loaded with humidity,
any storm that does develop has greater potential to develop into an intense
storm," added Tselioudis (The Impact of Climate Change on Natural
Disasters, 2010, Internet).

Furthermore, global warming makes changes to the temperature. The
temperature keeps on increasing every day and it has many negative
consequences. Based on NASA, a drop in one or two degrees can transform the
Earth into a Little Ice Age and a five-degree drop can bury a large part of
North America in a mass of ice. On the other hands, the increase in one degree
can warm all the oceans, atmosphere, and land on the Earth (Global
Temperatures, 2010, Internet).

Moreover, the increase in temperature changes the precipitation and
animal habitats. The precipitation is increasing throughout the globe. The
animals that lived in cold habitats are moving to find a suitable place to live
since their old habitats are heating up. For instance, glaciers on both the
North and South Pole are being melted by the high temperature (Effects of Global
Warming, 2007, Internet). This will affect the coastal lives. If the seawater
hits inland, it will cause floods, destroying agriculture, eroding the soil,
and increasing the loss of animal's habitats. As the result of the North
Pole’s glaciers, that have been melting, the amount of polar bears is beginning
to decrease. Polar bears usually swim from one glacier to another. However,
since there are fewer glaciers, the polar bears have to swim longer distances.
Sometimes they cannot find any glaciers to rest upon, so they become exhausted
and die in the sea (Gore, 2006).

In additional, in northwest Siberia, Nenet people are reindeer
herders. In winter, the temperatures increased from minus fifty degree Celsius
to minus thirty degree Celsius. It is not good for the reindeers because there
are not enough pastures for them. The Nenets used to travel with thousands of
reindeers pass the frozen River Ob in November and settle their camps near
Nadym. In the same time, the snow in that region is melting faster than before,
so they have to wait until late December when the ice was thick enough to go
through. It is difficult for the reindeers to pull the sledges (Harding, 2009,
Internet).

What is more, global warming also creates problems in agriculture.
Ninety percent of Cambodians are living in the rural area and they also have
problems with farming because they depend on rainwater for their agriculture.
Sometime, there are water shortages or floods that destroy farmers' crop, which
means there will be fewer crops to sell. Furthermore, production of rice can be
decreased and this reason forces the farmers move to the cities find jobs. This
movement causes many problems for the city, including education problems,
infrastructure, safety, and healthy problems (Wight, 2014, Newspaper).

Another important point to note is that global warming can affect
the climate. For example, it is involved in seasonal changes, drought, the
increase of temperature, inability of the river to reach the sea, et cetera (Gore,
2006).

Taken as a whole, the majority of global warming will be devastating
to human and animal populations. For examples, an insecure food supply, more
intensive storms, drought and rapidly rising sea levels, et cetera (Nathan.
2008, Internet).

Renewable
energy is the long term solution to the problems of global warming. Firstly it
is clean; it does not harm the environment or people’s health. Second, it is
almost infinite, which means that it takes a long time until it disappears. The
most popular types of renewable energies are solar and wind power.

Solar
energy is one of the renewable energies and it is an alternative of burning
fuel to obtain electricity. It can reduce the amount of greenhouse gas
emissions, which cause global warming. The sun releases energy into space on a
daily basis.Solar panels are black
mirrors that capture that energy when it comes to the Earth to produce
electricity. In the past, this technology was not very efficient because it
could not be operated at night and it did not produce enough electricity on a larger
scale. However, NASA has upgraded this technology by basing up on the new
creation of rocket engines, they created the world’s first solar power plant.
They built a huge tube and put hundreds of solar panels around the tube. As the
sun heats all the panels, they direct the power into the tube, which generates
a lot of power. NASA experts said that their solar power plants are cheaper and
less dangerous than the nuclear power plants but can generate the same amount
of power ("Shuttle engine
design," 2014). Solar panels can also be installed at home,
workplaces, and a lot of other places.It saves a lot of money because people do not need to pay for the
electricity from traditional power plants.

Wind
energy is another type of renewable energy that can solve the issue of climate
change. Wind is a natural force that exists everywhere on Earth. Wind turbines
rely on the wind to blow in their direction to spin their dynamos and generate
a lot of electricity. Many countries around the world have been using these
turbines to reduce the amount of fossil fuel used. Standsford scientists have
found hydroelectric storages, which can be used to store the surplus energy. This extra power can be use as backup if
power plants stop functioning(Shwartz,
2014).

Saving
energy at home greatly reduces carbon dioxide emission. People can do this by
adding more insulation to their house to stop air leaking. A person, who is
knowledgeable about sealing and insulating his or her house, can save more than
20% of heating and cooling costs and a lot of energy that needs to be spent on those
types of appliance. In order to do that, we can just use caulk and weather
stripping to decrease air leaks and stop air currents. Plus, to stop the
entering of hot air and cold air, insulation should be sealed in attics of
houses. People should save more water as well because it takes a lot of energy
to treat, pump and heat water. For instance, faucets should be closed to avoid
water from running while brush teeth and shaving. Toilets and faucets leak
should be fixed when they are broken (EPA, 2014).

Furthermore,
people should buy products such as electronic devices and household appliances
with ENERGY STAR label.According to the
EPA, this is an efficient way because these products consume less energy and
are more efficient than normal products. Actually, there are more than 60 kinds
of product, which are qualified by that label. Products that have the ENERGY
STAR label can decrease greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 130 thousand
pounds during their lifetime (EPA, 2014). It is also better to buy new products
and recycle old ones.

One other solution to global warming is that people should
choose their ways of traveling wisely. In the US, cars and truck cause more
than half of the transportation emissions, which is about one-fifth of the
nation’s total worldwide global warming pollution. Transportation causes nearly
30 percent of America’s global warming emissions. People can choose to buy cars
with higher mileage or even hybrid cars if possible. It is even better if
people choose to talk or ride bicycles more (The Inconvenient Truth,
Guggenheim). They can switch to cleaner fuels, go electric or reduce driving.
These fuel-efficient vehicles use less gas and people could still drive the
same distance. The least fuel burnt, the least gas emitted (Union of concerned,
2014)

Trees
absorb carbon dioxide, which is one of the greenhouse gases causing climate
change.Cambodia is known to have the
third highest rate of deforestation in the world. In mid 2009 in Treak village,
Siem Reap, a community called Husk started a tree-planting program. Those trees
provide a lot of benefits that they give the villagers fruit and a source of
income. More than 100 fruit trees have been planted in 2009. Their goal for
2010 was to plant more than 500 trees in Treak village and start a new planting
program in Kompheim village. Husk for Communities will also bring up educational
programs to help educate poor families and preserve trees (Husk for
Communities, 2014). Deforestation needs to be stopped and the government should
create laws to protect forests in general not just try to recreate them as it
takes a long time for forests to be created.

Trees
not only absorb the greenhouse gas but also help with cooling. It means that
people do not need to use energy for cooling systems. According to The U.S.
Department of Energy, planting trees around houses can keep the houses cool in
summer. In addition, trees, shrubs, or vines that are placed correctly can give
effective shade and break the wind. As a result, uses of energy are reduced by
25%, in terms of each normal household. According to researchers, in
tree-shaded neighborhoods, the temperatures of the air are 3 to 6 degrees celsius
cooler than temperatures treeless zones in summer. (2011).

What You Can Do: At Home. (2014, March 19). . Retrieved May
2, 2014, from http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/wycd/home.html

In
conclusion, greenhouse gas emissions mainly come from our human daily
activities, but also from natural causes, which also emit a lot of greenhouse
gases into the atmosphere. Humans know that the greenhouse effect will be
disastrous to every life on the planet. Thus, people are finding possible
solutions to prevent this issue from becoming uncontrollable.